Tender

‘Gripping, completely compelling . . . a sublime talent’ – Donal Ryan

‘Captures what is like to be young in Dublin with grace, subtlety and sympathy’ – Colm Tóibín

Catherine and James are as close as two friends could ever be. Witty, talented and charming, James is unlike anyone Catherine has encountered before, and she finds herself hungry to explore with him all that Dublin in the ’90s has to offer – even as James struggles to find his place in it.

But as their connection intensifies, Catherine discovers that there’s a fine line between longing and love, friendship and obsession . . .

From the author of the multi-award-winning debut Solace, Tender is a dazzling exploration of the complexities of human relationships, a novel about friendship and youth, about selfhood and sexuality, about the lies we tell ourselves and the lies we are taught to tell.

‘A superb and sophisticated writer’ – The Times

‘Richly nuanced and utterly absorbing’ -The Guardian

Author Biography

Belinda McKeon’s first novel, Solace, won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Sunday Independent Best Newcomer Award and was named Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book of the Year in 2011, as well as being shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Her essays and journalism have appeared in the New York Times, the Paris Review, the Guardian and elsewhere. She grew up in rural Ireland and now lives in New York, where she teaches at Rutgers University. Tender is her second novel.